Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Book Number 4
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus II has some obvious similarities to East Garrison: its title, the book's cover, and the narrative's repeated mention of fog. Other than that, it is NOT about the American Dream gone bad, as is the basic plot summary of House of Sand and Fog. Dubus's novel spoke to me on many levels through its stark prose and unwavering portrayal of reality. But what influenced me most were the setting and one of the main characters, Kathy Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who cleans houses for her meager living.
I not only read Dubus's novel, I've lived it. I put myself through many years of college by cleaning people's houses. And I know too well the devastation alcoholism brings having been raised by two alcoholics and done my share of the same. I've lived most my life in the East Bay Area and now on the Central Coast. Mist and fog are as familiar to me as are snowstorms and ice to people who live in the Midwest. Fog is a great mood setter. Fort Ord's climate is misty and cloudy 99 percent of the time. It's precisely for that reason that the land made a terrific Army base. Cloaked in its own microclimate, it's difficult to detect what's going on just behind that layer of dense, wet air.
Dubus's novel mounts tragedy upon tragedy until the tension is almost unbearable. A series of mistakes (similar to the Donner story) take on monumental meaning as the narrative moves the characters into a final position against a wall from which they cannot escape. House of Sand and Fog's inevitable conclusion is painfully dark, but honest—both traits that I admire in writing. This is not a novel for everyone, but what book is?
I not only read Dubus's novel, I've lived it. I put myself through many years of college by cleaning people's houses. And I know too well the devastation alcoholism brings having been raised by two alcoholics and done my share of the same. I've lived most my life in the East Bay Area and now on the Central Coast. Mist and fog are as familiar to me as are snowstorms and ice to people who live in the Midwest. Fog is a great mood setter. Fort Ord's climate is misty and cloudy 99 percent of the time. It's precisely for that reason that the land made a terrific Army base. Cloaked in its own microclimate, it's difficult to detect what's going on just behind that layer of dense, wet air.
Dubus's novel mounts tragedy upon tragedy until the tension is almost unbearable. A series of mistakes (similar to the Donner story) take on monumental meaning as the narrative moves the characters into a final position against a wall from which they cannot escape. House of Sand and Fog's inevitable conclusion is painfully dark, but honest—both traits that I admire in writing. This is not a novel for everyone, but what book is?
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Book Number 3
The third book that influenced East Garrison is Tom Wolfe's novel, A Man in Full. This humongous 742-page satire is about sixty-year-old real estate mogul, “Cap’m” Charles Croker whose world is collapsing amidst racial tension in Atlanta, Georgia. In the end, “Cap’m” Charlie is saved from a moral dilemma by Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of a handful of characters, primarily “Cap’m” Charlie, young idealist Conrad Hensley, and up and coming African American attorney Roger White II.
Basically, I loved the structure of A Man in Full and used it as a model for East Garrison. Wolfe's story goes completely full circle with “Cap’m” Charlie and Conrad Hensley, who are not just chronologically and geographically miles apart, but also portray extremes of rich and poor. Eventually, through a looong series of coincidences the two meet, and young Hensley, a recent believer in Stoicism, teaches “Cap’m” Charlie its basic tenets. The characters, setting, story, and particularly the dialog in A Man in Full are all spot on, hilarious, and unique. Wolfe is a master with dialog, which is something most writers admire. The implausibility of “Cap’m” Charlie and Hensley finally connecting is one interesting, fun ride. Although East Garrison isn't an epic like Wolfe's novel, not even close, I tried to follow the basic structure of having characters in a setting where they’re unaware of the other’s presence, yet seemingly their lives are revolving around each other, and eventually all end up together.
In my story, I had the father Jack, the antagonist, become the hero of the story in a most unlikely turn of events. There’s also a convoluted philosophy which isn't Stoicism, but a unique blend of the Theosophical society, numerology, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and an ancient symbol, the swastika. “Cap’m” Charlie goes from riches to rags, and so does Jack. That’s about where the similarity ends. Wolfe’s novel is a satire. I consider East Garrison a modern horror story. But it helped to have a structure that I liked and seemed to work well while writing my first novel. If you haven’t read A Man in Full, I highly recommend it.
Basically, I loved the structure of A Man in Full and used it as a model for East Garrison. Wolfe's story goes completely full circle with “Cap’m” Charlie and Conrad Hensley, who are not just chronologically and geographically miles apart, but also portray extremes of rich and poor. Eventually, through a looong series of coincidences the two meet, and young Hensley, a recent believer in Stoicism, teaches “Cap’m” Charlie its basic tenets. The characters, setting, story, and particularly the dialog in A Man in Full are all spot on, hilarious, and unique. Wolfe is a master with dialog, which is something most writers admire. The implausibility of “Cap’m” Charlie and Hensley finally connecting is one interesting, fun ride. Although East Garrison isn't an epic like Wolfe's novel, not even close, I tried to follow the basic structure of having characters in a setting where they’re unaware of the other’s presence, yet seemingly their lives are revolving around each other, and eventually all end up together.
In my story, I had the father Jack, the antagonist, become the hero of the story in a most unlikely turn of events. There’s also a convoluted philosophy which isn't Stoicism, but a unique blend of the Theosophical society, numerology, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and an ancient symbol, the swastika. “Cap’m” Charlie goes from riches to rags, and so does Jack. That’s about where the similarity ends. Wolfe’s novel is a satire. I consider East Garrison a modern horror story. But it helped to have a structure that I liked and seemed to work well while writing my first novel. If you haven’t read A Man in Full, I highly recommend it.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Book Number 2
The second book that influenced East Garrison is a classic: Jaws by Peter Benchley. This fiction book put a name to the fear we all have when in large pools of water. My own fear was already there while being forced to learn to water ski when I was about 8 years old. If you don't know how to water ski, I'll break it down:
1. Alone in the water with a pair of skis and a rope tied to a boat.
2. You give the "thumbs up," meaning you're ready to try to get up on those skis.
3. If you're lucky, you get yanked out of the water the first time and away from the evil lurking below you. (I always pictured a green and slimy white hand grabbing for my ankle in the wake of the boat as I skied off.)
4. Eventually you fall or have to let go of the rope. (There's no other known way to get back into the safety of the boat without going back into the water first.)
5. You wait alone in the water until you're rescued, praying the boat will come back quickly. For me, this was the worst part. I'd try to lie perfectly still on top of my skis, praying the unnamed beast would mistake me for a floating log until the boat returned (which never failed to take an eternity) to save me.
After Jaws came out, and we all saw the shark's point of view under the water, with our legs thrashing, looking so helpless, swimming became a terrifying experience. Hell, even the bathtub was a place of horror for me. I still can't shake the image of my white legs underneath the water.
While writing East Garrison, a number of rare mountain lion attacks happened in California, and naturally one of North America's biggest predators became the antagonist. Not just a mountain lion though, a female mountain lion with cubs. This paralleled Tracy, the pregnant protagonist. This lion wasn't randomly killing people, like in Jaws; she was just protecting her cubs, but I did keep in mind the way Benchley wrote Jaws, particularly in the prologue and the epilogue. It is, after all, a classic.
1. Alone in the water with a pair of skis and a rope tied to a boat.
2. You give the "thumbs up," meaning you're ready to try to get up on those skis.
3. If you're lucky, you get yanked out of the water the first time and away from the evil lurking below you. (I always pictured a green and slimy white hand grabbing for my ankle in the wake of the boat as I skied off.)
4. Eventually you fall or have to let go of the rope. (There's no other known way to get back into the safety of the boat without going back into the water first.)
5. You wait alone in the water until you're rescued, praying the boat will come back quickly. For me, this was the worst part. I'd try to lie perfectly still on top of my skis, praying the unnamed beast would mistake me for a floating log until the boat returned (which never failed to take an eternity) to save me.
After Jaws came out, and we all saw the shark's point of view under the water, with our legs thrashing, looking so helpless, swimming became a terrifying experience. Hell, even the bathtub was a place of horror for me. I still can't shake the image of my white legs underneath the water.
While writing East Garrison, a number of rare mountain lion attacks happened in California, and naturally one of North America's biggest predators became the antagonist. Not just a mountain lion though, a female mountain lion with cubs. This paralleled Tracy, the pregnant protagonist. This lion wasn't randomly killing people, like in Jaws; she was just protecting her cubs, but I did keep in mind the way Benchley wrote Jaws, particularly in the prologue and the epilogue. It is, after all, a classic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)